Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image shake correction device having an image stabilization function of preventing image blur caused by undesired motion of a hand holding an image capturing apparatus (hereinafter, camera shake), which is likely to occur in handheld photography. The image shake correction device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention can be applied to an image capturing apparatus such as a digital camera and a digital video camera, and an optical device such as an interchangeable lens.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, many cameras have provided with an image shake correction device to prevent image blur caused by camera shake, which is likely to occur in handheld image capturing. Such an image shake correction device is discussed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-219338.
According to an image shake correction device discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-219338, a lens frame for holding a correcting lens is held with respect to a base member via three balls.
Moreover, to improve driving performance of an image shake correction device, Japanese Patent No. 3969927 discusses a technique in which a ball member is sandwiched between a lens frame and a base member. The ball member is held in a rollable manner inside a restriction portion.
The restriction portion is provided in such a manner that the ball member does not contact the restriction portion while the lens frame is moving in a maximum movable range thereof.
In recent years, technological advances in an image shake correction device have enabled the image shake correction for a larger camera-shake angle. This increases a movement amount of a correcting lens to correct image shake. On the other hand, the size of the image shake correction device may need to be reduced with reduction in size of a camera.
Accordingly, in a case where a restriction portion for a ball member is provided in a manner discussed in Japanese Patent No. 3969927, a space required for a ball member holding unit increases. Accordingly, such a configuration cannot contribute to size reduction or may leads to less flexibility in design.